Mirror Magic
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: An ancient artifact given new life and purpose finds itself in the hands of a child who has no idea what he's getting into. A legacy long forgotten will re-emerge again in modern times as Tsubasa Takamachi discovers ancient secrets that had been buried since the Belkan Wars. Can Tsubasa and his sister Nanoha survive? (HAS ELEMENTS OF DNAngel!)
1. Chapter 1

It all started many centuries and distant planets ago. On NA #97 there was a young woman named Lily Evans. She was the descendant of two noted magical clans from Japan. The Hikari and the Niwa.

Normally this would not matter in the scheme of things, however in recent years the Japanese Ministry had uncovered an...unusual artifact. One that belonged to the Hikari clan but had been sealed by the Niwa less than a century ago.

It was called the Black Wings. Naturally due to it's massive size and unusual nature they couldn't exactly owl it to England. After all, there was a war and this could easily draw attention. However they could send a part of it for study.

In this case a single pair of white and black feathers. Aside from the initial investigation which was put on hold indefinitely until the war ended, Lily had the goblins turn them into a pair of earrings which she always wore.

You may be wondering what impact these insignificant earrings have on this story.

The answer lies in Lily's son Harry. Or rather the unusual incident that occurred four years after her death at the hands of a madman with delusions of grandeur.

* * *

Harry turned five today, not that he had anything to celebrate. To him it was another day in his own private hell on earth. His aunt either ignored him completely or set Dudley on him to remind him painfully that he was a freak and therefor not worth spending any money on whatsoever.

Today was special in that Petunia happened to come across a pair of matching feather earrings that she tossed in the garbage after dinner in disgust. All Harry heard was that they had belonged to his mother and he immediately wanted them. So when he took out the trash that night he undid the knots carefully and took them out. His aunt didn't notice as the trash was taken away early in the morning.

It was only after he carefully cleaned them that he felt something. Almost like one of Mrs. Figg's cats stretching from a long nap in the sun.

In the early rays of moonlight on his fifth birthday, Harry felt something click into place with his core, not that he knew what that was, or even how to use it until much later.

On his first day of school was when he received his first shock.

Namely what would happen should he place the feathers on his ears. He had a basic idea of what an earring was, as Petunia wore them on occasion, and the open clasp on the feathers made him think that he could slide his tiny ear into them...but then the things clapped into his ears and refused to be taken off.

He was most upset about that, namely what his aunt would do should she discover he had taken them out.

It seemed the things had a mind of their own, because the teachers didn't notice them at all. And later neither did Petunia.

That wasn't nearly as shocking as what happened later that night.

* * *

"_This is Yuri's kid? He's skinnier than Satoshi was!"_

"**Her sister is hardly the best example of motherhood. Did you not notice she forced the boy to cook? He barely reached the stove without a step stool!"**

"_I think he can hear us. You awake kiddo?"_

"Who...who are you?" Harry whispered into the dark.

"_We can hear your thoughts kid. No need to speak out loud."_

'Who are you?'

"_Better. My name is Dark."_

"**I am Krad."**

"_And together we are the spirits bound in the earrings you put on. Normally we would be unable to interact but the goblins added a few features when they turned the stone feathers into earrings for Yuri-chan."_

'Yuri?"

"**He means Lily, your mother. Dark never could get the hang of any language outside of German or Japanese."**

'You knew my mum?'

"_We remember her briefly before she died. It was partially thanks to her that we can move around more since the mirror was sealed."_

"**From what we saw of Lily, she never would have allowed you near these people. Unfortunately you're still too young for us to teleport you out of this place."**

Harry sagged in disappointment. So he couldn't escape even with these spirits?

"_But that doesn't mean we can't talk to you and keep you company. Just because Dudley keeps the normal kids away doesn't mean he can do the same to us."_

Harry brightened considerably about that.

* * *

And so it went. Harry spent most of his time talking to either Dark or Krad and mastering the art of silent communication without letting others know. If his classmates believed him to be a bit ditzy, well he let them. If he proved to be very klutzy until he figured out how to walk and talk at the same time, well, that made it easier for him to avoid Dudley's attempts to trip him deliberately.

In fact Harry had found a sort of balance thanks to Dark's coaching and learning how to pick locks.

He never would have considered popping the hinges of the cupboard and putting in substandard replacements so that he wasn't skinny anymore. Now all he had to do was pop out the door and carefully replace the lock (it was a sliding one) and the adults were none the wiser.

He became very quick at detecting his cousin's increasing snack raids though. All he did was go in behind Dudley without making a sound and steal a bit more of whatever he had eaten (except when it was the last piece) and he was able to actually _enjoy_ some of the treats his cousin ate without being bothered.

Finally, on his seventh birthday, things changed again.

* * *

"_Harry, we have good news for you,"_ said Dark.

'What?'

"**Your magic is finally stable enough for us to get far away from Surrey. Far enough that even the police would be unable to bring you back."**

'So we can finally ditch this place? For good?'

"_Yup. Just say the word and we'll take you to Japan. Since you've slowly learned how to speak it without drawing any unusual questions, you should be able to fit in."_

'When can we leave?'

"_Pack your things Midori. We're leaving tonight,"_ said Dark happily.

Around midnight Harry swiped as much food as he could into his bag and went outside. He felt a rush of wind at his back as a light appeared beneath him. He vanished into the night without leaving a single trace of evidence of where he had gone.

Petunia would only notice the broken cupboard and open door and rightly assume the brat had run away. They didn't report it to the police until the teachers made comments to a visiting officer about a young boy who hadn't been seen for over a week.

* * *

Nanoha Takamachi was a normal girl. So when her father nearly hits a young boy about her age, she is naturally concerned.

The boy is clearly malnourished, and heavily beaten by someone regularly. Her father became furious when the boy revealed that his uncle had done it to him, and that he had narrowly escaped his house.

When he claimed amnesia as to the location, her father didn't question it once. A few weeks later she finds that same boy sharing a room with her older brother.

He was now part of her family.

* * *

_One year later..._

Nanoha chatted idly with her brother Tsubasa (named after the odd earrings he wore everywhere that he said belonged to his late mother) while they went to school. It had taken him some time to catch up to her, namely three months, but after that he proved to be quite the little genius.

He was able to keep up with someone like Nanoha after all, even if he wasn't that enthusiastic about sports.

"Ne, so what do you plan to do over the weekend Tsubasa-kun?" asked Suzuka.

"I convinced Dad to let me visit Amazuno over the weekend. There's supposed to be this art exhibit that's amazing!"

"Isn't Amazuno where Dark was last sighted?" asked Nanoha. Tsubasa had a massive fascination with the Phantom Thief for some reason.

Tsubasa nodded eagerly. Since it was just the next town over, he was allowed to go by himself so long as he came back before supper.

Tsubasa had been adamant about not being taken from the Takamachi family, so they didn't have to worry about him running away.

"Did you guys hear that?" asked Nanoha.

"I heard something," said Tsubasa, cocking his head.

He heard a cry for help, but he didn't know where it was coming from.

Once school was over, he went straight home. Unlike Nanoha he didn't have the same cram school lessons. His grades were good enough that he didn't need the extra lessons.

"_**Help!"**_

'You hear that Dark?'

"_I heard it. I get the feeling that this is something Nanoha has to do though."_

"**We noticed some odd streaks a few days ago. Perhaps we should investigate a few areas where they landed?"** suggested Krad.

'Beats heading home and doing homework. Lead on!'

"So you found a half-dead ferret in the middle of the woods?" asked Tsubasa.

Nanoha nodded.

"Mom said we might be able to keep him," said Nanoha.

"Well I have nothing against ferrets."

"What are you playing with anyway?"

"Some odd rocks I found on my way home. Figured they'd be awesome for my rock collection."

"Mom say it was okay to have them?"

"I washed them off first," said Tsubasa. He liked to collect odd things...he once found an intact geode on the side of the road.

In his hand were five oddly shaped rocks that were giving off a _ton _of magical energy. Dark had been teaching him sealing techniques and he was eager to try some out on an actual target.

Tomorrow he would head to Amazuno and check on the status of the Niwa clan home and hopefully renew the seals. Plus he had to pick up With, who Dark said went dormant shortly after his sealing.

With relied on Dark's magic to stay awake. Without him active, the rabbit familiar would fall into hibernation, possibly forever.

"Nanoha!" cried Tsubasa while he was outside. He watched his sister/cousin (they had yet to set what his role in the family was) fight the rocks he had collected earlier while a ferret sat nearby. More than ever he wished he was old enough to manifest the wings that Dark and Krad gave their partners.

His desire to reestablish the familiar bond between Dark and With had only become stronger watching that fight. Unlike Nanoha, he had an excuse for being out. He had left one of his books at the school, and it was because of him she had been found out.

He managed to make it back before his sister.

* * *

Tsubasa took the keys to the Niwa house and went in. It was in good condition, but the magical wards were thin. He would have to speak to the goblins about getting them fixed. Dark did coach him through renewing the bond and reapplying the seals on the artwork below.

"So where is this mirror anyway?" Tsubasa asked the goblin.

"Follow me. We had to cut off access to non-blood members after the last idiot tried to tap into the damn thing and nearly set off another earthquake. The Hikari were good, I'll give them that, but the concept of tying a single man-made spirit to the Earth's leyline network is something only an idiot would conceive of."

"Huh?"

"From what our exams can tell, because of the split to the spirit caused by an interruption, every time the two clans clashed it caused earthquakes. The last one ended in the two spirits finally being forced to settle back into a single entity, though the Niwa and Hikari clans lost their magic and became squibs."

"So why did you send the stone feathers to my mother then?"

"Goblin laws state we have to hand over any artifact to the blood family. We couldn't send the damn mirror to your mother, not only would it be impossible to lift but the thing is literally _tied_ to the earth's natural magic. Besides, we weren't about to let the idiots in Europe get their hands on something this naturally destructive. So we settled on sending her the one thing we _could_ break off without setting the piece off, which were the feathers from the top of the mirror itself. We were surprised to hear what she did with it."

"So why can I hear the spirits?"

"Most likely because they aren't happy being stuck underground. They were free for four hundred years after all."

They went past the muggle-repelling barriers and deep underground.

"Holy cow!"

The mirror was massive, easily taller than his school. He could see where the feathers had been taken off, but strangely it didn't seem as though it made a difference.

Tsubasa walked up to the mirror to properly appreciate it's majesty...and accidentally touched it.

Two bright lights, one bright white and one a luminescent black struck his feather earrings. The goblin swore in shock as the feathers detached and became Dark and Krad, finally with their own physical form at last.

"Finally!" said Dark stretching.

Tsubasa turned to meet them in shock.

"What..."

"It's good to be free of that accursed mirror," said Krad.

Dark had deep purple hair and red eyes. He also had a pair of luminescent black wings and wore dark clothing. He had a lithe figure perfect for running and gymnastics.

Krad had blond hair that practically shimmered, and white wings that glowed with an unearthly light. He wore white and gold clothing and his hair was in a loose ponytail. His eyes were a bright golden color. He seemed built for a fight rather than a good run.

The goblin did not seem happy about their release.

"Dammit, now we have to deal with those retched earthquakes again..."

"That was only because we were never supposed to fight each other in the first place. Now that we have settled back into one unit, we are no longer at odds," said Krad.

"Yeah, we were never supposed to be separated, but after a few decades the mirror agreed that twin spirits were acceptable. The only issue is that we had to split our abilities. For example Krad is the more attack and creation oriented one while I focus on defense and sealing," said Dark.

"And with that in mind..." said Krad.

The two spirits knelt to Tsubasa.

"We await your command, Master," they said in unison.

"Dammit... I knew mixing Earth magic with that bloody Al Hazard nonsense was a bad idea..." muttered the goblin to the side.

They had accidentally created a Lost Logia, one in the hands of an abused _child_. That could never end well!


	2. Chapter 2

Tsubasa was delighted to finally have a face for the voices he heard, even if they still argued on _what_ they should make the activating phrase for each. Finally he had enough of their bickering (which was more like what he usually did with Nanoha) that he picked a random book off his shelf and found an odd poem that could work so long as they worded it correctly.

'Have you two finished your bickering yet?'

"_What do you have in mind partner?"_

Krad listened to the poem that Tsubasa had picked from a book called _The Fellowship of the Ring_. All it needed was a bit of rewording to work for them.

"All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all who wander are lost,

The old that is strong does not whither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring

Renewed shall be bond that was broken

The magic once bound shall be free."

"**...And what shall we call ourselves?"** asked Krad.

"How about Mirror Wings?"

"_What if you need to use only one of our powers? I mean we _are_ what is called a unison device according to that goblin."_

'I've considered that too. Which is why I intend to reword the last two sentences when I need to use only one ability and give the other a chance to keep an eye out for me.'

"**What would be my phrase then?"**

'How about _'Renewed shall be blade that was broken, the forgotten again shall reign'_?'

"_And me?"_

'Instead of blade it will be shield. And instead of forgotten it will be '_the thief again shall be free'._'

"_I like it!"_ said Dark enthusiastically.

"**I think it's very fitting indeed,"** said Krad. He liked the part about the forgotten shall be the one to rule. It was a fact that most people didn't even _know_ he existed, mostly because the Hikari had been so adamant about keeping him their secret.

'So what should we do about Nanoha's night time excursions?'

"_Put a bind on her sorry butt and keep her put until she learns that she can't do everything in one day. She's pushing herself so hard that her magical core will snap at the rate she's going."_

"**...Or we could seal off her device, I believe was the term the goblins used. I get the feeling that unlike you, she has been using that to capture whatever it is she's after. Only temporarily mind you,"** said Krad.

Tsubasa blinked.

"Seal the device it is. I wonder if this has anything to do with these stones I keep finding."

"_I want to know why they keep appearing in our space after we sealed the damn things!"_ said Dark with a whine. It baffled them.

Suddenly there was a knock at their door.

"Ano...Tsubasa-nii?" said Nanoha.

"_Speak of the devil..."_

"What is it Nanoha-nee?" asked Tsubasa, letting her in.

"Doyouhaveadevicetoo?" she asked in a rush. Tsubasa blinked.

'Translation?'

"**She just asked if you had a device, if what I can tell is right,"** said Krad amused.

"Kyuu!" said With, jumping on Tsubasa's head. He waved at the ferret on Nanoha's shoulder.

The ferret looked at Nanoha and then Tsubasa.

"You have a voice in your head too, don't you?" said Tsubasa.

"Her name is Raising Heart."

"They (he indicated his earrings which he _never_ took off) are Mirror Wings."

~I don't understand how you knew he was a mage.~

'Who said that?' asked Tsubasa mentally.

The ferret waved at him.

"Okay, now this is a bit weird," said Tsubasa out loud.

~Why don't we find a quiet place to discuss this?~ suggested the ferret.

* * *

"So you're really from England, but Mirror Wings teleported you from there to escape an abusive home and you ended up nearly getting hit by Nanoha's dad while he was driving her?" said Yuuno. He had switched to his human form to make it easier.

"Well yeah, how else was I going to get away from that mess? My aunt _hated_ magic, she never even let her own son talk about it. As soon as my magic could handle it, they got me out of there."

"How long have you known about your earrings being a device?" asked Yuuno.

"For about a week. All I knew before then was that it had a pair of twin spirits in them since they bonded to me. The goblins who commissioned them into this form were the ones to tell me about them being what's known as a double-unison device."

"But that's impossible! You're only supposed to be able to unison with _one_ device at a time!"

"...Even when the unison device was originally _one_ spirit that was split into two by mistake?"

Yuuno considered that theory.

"It _is_ possible if that is the case, but the odds of doing that and them surviving would be astronomical. I mean they would have to remain within the same town at least, and the chances of them reuniting and not clashing for control..."

Tsubasa grinned.

"Krad, Dark, manifest," said Tsubasa.

"_**Yes sir."**_

The two feathers split off into balls of light that formed into Dark and Krad.

Yuuno stared. He couldn't help it.

"How... Why..."

"Meet Krad, my attack and magical creation spirit, and Dark, his brother who specializes in sealing and defense. They were split off by accident during their creation and it took them four hundred years before both families were able to seal them back into their original mirror. It took them decades to finally settle on what they would specialize in, and it took the goblins ten years before they finally sent them to my mother. She had the feathers turned into earrings since she had no idea what they were actually for," said Tsubasa smugly.

"Oh dear lord... That's the actual Phantom Thief isn't it. No wonder you're obsessed with him," said Nanoha, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

Then Yuuno noticed something.

"Are those Jewel Seeds?! Where in Al Hazard did you find those?!" said Yuuno, noticing the odd jewels hanging around Dark.

"Is that what they're called? I just noticed they had a lot of magic just waiting to be used so I had Tsubasa pick them up for sealing practice."

"Sealing... Exactly what can you two do?"

"What did you think we did for four hundred years? Tea parties? We were stuck inside rival clans. Krad's specialized in creating artwork which eventually gained a soul, while mine specialized in sealing and trap making. You tend to pick up a thing or two while fighting your brother every time you came out."

"Wouldn't that cause natural disasters? I mean from what I can tell you two are tied to this planet's natural energy."

"We used to cause earthquakes. The last one was when we were finally sealed and were able to reconnect properly," said Dark sheepishly.

"So what does this mean Yuuno?"

"Twin spirits are extremely rare. It's even rarer that they can be used together and separate at the same time."

"After all the time we spent fighting, it's nice to be out and about without having to worry about the other making a pot shot at us," said Dark grinning.

"You do realize the Bureau is going to want to see this."

"Does the name Al Hazard mean anything to you?" asked Tsubasa curiously.

"How...where did you hear that name?"

"The goblin who explained about devices and how these two had only be operating on half power said that they had mixed some old Al Hazard technology with the feathers mostly because they had nothing better to do with it. According to Snarlfang the clips that attach the feathers to my ear is from some old thing they had lying around and decided to put to use."

Yuuno nearly fainted.

"They're definitely going to want to talk to you. Making a Lost Logia purely to see what would happen..." muttered Yuuno in absolute shock.

"So...what happens now?" asked Tsubasa.

"Well I'm going to keep collecting Jewel Seeds..." started Nanoha.

"Hold it right there. Is that why you've been so exhausted recently?"

She nodded.

"I'm putting a stop to this right now. For the next two days Yuuno will work with me to gather these things. You need to get some rest before you snap," said Tsubasa firmly.

"But..."

"Nanoha, Dark and I were just talking about sealing off your device temporarily because we noticed how weak you've been lately. If you don't rest then if someone interrupts you, you'll be too exhausted to fight them off."

"The last time I tried a giant tree nearly wrecked the city!" protested Nanoha.

Tsubasa leveled a look at her. She winced.

"I will put Kyouya on you if you don't take a day off at least. I am perfectly able to seal these things without you being there, and you need the break. Don't think I won't."

* * *

Tsubasa was forced to do exactly as he threatened, and set their older brother on her when she was beaten by someone who was chasing these mysterious Jewel Seeds.

He was not happy that he had to watch Nanoha. Neither was Miyuki when he had her help.

Yuuno reluctantly took Raising Heart with him while he taught Tsubasa the finer points of flying with magic.

He was very surprised that the rabbit familiar Tsubasa had served a purpose...as a pair of wings!

'Down there you think?'

~I can sense a faint signal...uh-oh.~

'What?'

~That girl is there too! She has a familiar with her!~

'Time to say hi!'

He dropped down with nary a sound. Dark had been a very good teacher, and his former family had been the perfect motivation to learn. It was no coincidence that he happened to be part of the gymnastics team.

"Hi. I'm Tsubasa, and you are?" he asked with a charming grin. (Yet another thing he learned from Dark.)

She stared at him for a moment, before she leveled her ax at him.

"Stay out of my way or else."

Tsubasa noted that under her cloak were multiple scars. She was clearly in a lot of pain, but like him had learned the hard way to work past it all.

Unlike him, she had yet to be saved.

~Tsubasa, what...~

"What's your name?" he asked quietly.

The girl heard that tone of pain in his voice, because she turned to face him. This time her eyes wide.

"Fate Testarossa."

"So who is it that hurt you so badly? And don't lie...I know exactly what is going on."

Fate could tell by his eyes that he did in fact know her situation all too well.

"My mother. She told me to get the Jewel Seeds, so I will."

"For me it was my so-called aunt and uncle, and their son. They hated magic so much that they would try to 'beat' it out of me. I finally managed to break out of that nightmare into a family who cared. No one ever tried to help me, so I had to help myself."

Fate looked at him in the eyes. He truly did understand.

"My mother hates me because I look like Alicia, but I'm not her."

The two stood in silence.

"If you meet my sister Nanoha, can you take it easy on her? Unlike us she has just started learning about magic."

"The red head in white?" asked Fate.

He nodded.

"I'll remember," said Fate.

He vanished with a beat of With's wings, leaving a quiet Fate behind.

~...Tsubasa, why didn't you take the Jewel Seed?~

'Because I can tell that her 'mother' is an abusive woman. If she doesn't show results then she is hurt badly. I would rather lose a few seeds now and retrieve them later than to let someone else suffer through that pain.'

Yuuno had nothing to say to that. He hadn't even known Tsubasa had gone through that same situation.

~Was what you said about your family true?~

'Why do you think I don't like talking about my past before I became a Takamachi? I would rather be the descendant of a Niwa and Hikari than remember what life was like as a Potter.'

~What was your original name?~

'Harry Potter. I like Tsubasa better.'

~...I won't talk about this with Nanoha. Not unless you want me to.~

'Thanks Yuuno.'

* * *

Aruf, Fate's familiar, watched as the boy left on his wings.

Never, in a million years would she have believed someone would be able to get through to Fate as easily as he had. Then again it took an abused child to recognize another. After seeing him get through to Fate, a spark of hope became a flame in her chest. Maybe, just maybe this Tsubasa would be able to save Fate from herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Tsubasa challenged Nanoha to a mental game of tag though their devices. She had to hit him with her Divine Buster while he evaded and blocked. It became a daily game between them to see who could get the most points.

Tsubasa was a natural in the air, and Nanoha wasn't far behind him. After seeing the scores, Yuuno feared what would happen when it was Nanoha's turn to defend.

Finally what Yuuno expected happened. The two girls got so into the fight that they never noticed the Jewel Seed activate.

Fortunately Tsubasa was with them that day, as he sealed it up pretty quickly and displayed that he had a few attack spells up his own sleeve...even if they did look like a rain of feathers.

Yuuno's eyes widened when he heard Tsubasa clearly start to chant in German, which was something Dark picked up from the Niwa clan.

Contrary to popular belief among the Japanese pure bloods, the Niwa clan wasn't an entirely Japanese family until shortly before Dark's original appearance. Most of their sealing techniques came from their ancestors who belonged to the Belkan Empire. The Hikari clan, however, were entirely Terran in origin.

As such the bulk of their magic and technique came from a lesser known faction of the Belkan Empire known as the Shadow Stalkers, which were akin to ninja in that world of knights.

Tsubasa didn't know that, or that it would come into play much, much later. All he knew was that the girls needed his help and he was determined to protect them.

A single black feather hit the rampaging jewel seed...and silenced it. Tsubasa nearly fainted from the amount of magic he had expended. He couldn't even keep his wings out. Nanoha managed to catch him while Fate landed.

"What do we do?" asked Nanoha.

Fate had no idea. He had stopped that thing before it hurt either of them. Yet another mark in his favor.

Aruf cast a mild healing spell.

"He's fine. Just let him rest for a few days and he'll be back to new in no time!" she said.

"Yuuno, can you help me hide him in his room?"

"Sure!" said Yuuno.

Tsubasa was up and at 'em a few days later, ready to play. They covered his sudden weakness by claiming he had caught a cold...which he did.

Of course things could never be that simple when it came to them.

* * *

Right in the middle of Nanoha's spat with Fate, someone shot a magical bind at them. Tsubasa was able to avoid it by diverting some of his magic to a random spot.

He raised an eyebrow at the kid with the spiked jacket.

Fate took one look at him and panicked. Clearly this kid was part of some authority she was trying to avoid. Aruf barreled in long enough for them to escape.

"I'm Enforcer Chrono from the Time Space Administration Bureau. Put down your devices peacefully or I will use force," said the boy.

Tsubasa raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly _how_ old are you?" he had to ask.

"15 if you must know."

"So this Bureau still uses child soldiers?" asked Tsubasa dryly. He could hear Dark and Krad openly laughing.

"Tsubasa!" said Yuuno horrified.

"I'm sorry. My brother here isn't the most tactful of people," said Nanoha apologetically.

"Like you are any better with the way you try to eat Yuuno in your sleep," Tsubasa shot back.

"I do not!"

"Then why has he been sleeping in my room for the past week?"

Nanoha looked at Yuuno expectantly.

"What? For some reason you keep thinking I'm a sweet potato whenever I try to sleep on one of the pillows. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get drool out of fur?" asked Yuuno.

Tsubasa smirked victoriously.

"I wouldn't smirk if I were you. You sleep talk," said Yuuno.

There was a bit of laughter behind Chrono, as he had patiently waited for the others to stop talking. Apparently his commanding officer had heard the entire thing. It was a woman with green hair and odd markings on her forehead.

"As amusing as this is, can we please get your statements?" asked Chrono patiently.

"Oh fine," said Tsubasa boredly.

Admiral Lindy was having a good laugh at the easy banter of the siblings. Clearly the boy knew that they were going to have to deal with authority figures and had decided to have some fun with it.

Once they were on the ship, she would have to get a better read of the boy. Clearly he was worth having around for the sake of amusement. Though she did wonder how he had escaped that bind when his sister hadn't.

* * *

"Hello. My name is Admiral Lindy and this is my son Chrono."

"Nanoha Takamachi."

"Tsubasa Takamachi. Before you ask, I'm actually adopted," said Tsubasa bluntly. From his tone he didn't care a whit about what people thought, he was proud of being adopted.

"Yuuno Scrya," said the former ferret.

"Should we include devices in our introduction?" asked Tsubasa.

"I don't see why not," said Lindy with amusement. She almost missed the mischievous gleam in Tsubasa's eyes.

"Dark, Krad, manifest," said Tsubasa with humor.

The twin feathers became his rather amused spirit friends...and made Lindy and Chrono drop their jaws in shock.

"Finally, someone who understands what I've been dealing with!" said Yuuno throwing his hands into the air.

"How..."

"This is Dark, seals and defense. Krad is attack and creation."

"Hold on...you have _two_ Unison devices? Why haven't they canceled each other out?" demanded Chrono.

"Because we are one that was cast into two," said Dark.

"What?"

"We're twin spirits from the same origin. During our creation the ritual was interrupted resulting in split souls in two rival families. A little under five hundred years ago the Hikari clan sought to make an artificial soul tied to the magical leylines of the Earth, just to see if they could," said Krad.

"Twenty years ago the goblin clans accidentally uncovered the mirror where we had been resealed in, and learned that the family lines that housed both spirits was still around. They sent two pieces of the artifact to the descendant, who had them made into earrings not realizing what it was, despite being a witch. The goblins in charge of creating those earrings used old pieces from a lost civilization because they had no other use for them and were paid very well to make the jewelry," continued Dark.

"Nine years ago the woman who had the pieces made was killed by a madman with delusions of glory going under the alias of Lord Voldemort. Her son, Tsubasa, was left in the care of his abusive aunt and her husband and we were left to her as we had been with Yuri upon her death. Four years after that Tsubasa rescued the pieces before they could be thrown away, and we ended up bonded to him at the exact same time. Since we didn't want to be lost again, we latched onto his magic pretty tightly until recently," said Krad bluntly.

"So what does this mean exactly?" asked Lindy.

"We're bio-locked to Tsubasa here. The goblins had no idea what they had used to make the fittings, only that it came from some old civilization called Al Hazard. It's only recently we became aware of what a device is."

"You mean there is a group on Earth who can make a pair of unison devices without knowing what it is?!" said Chrono incredulous.

"Like I said, they had no use for the parts, and they mostly enchanted it to see what would happen. All they knew was that the pieces used were magical in origin," shrugged Dark.

"We really need to talk to them if that's the case..." said Lindy.

"We can get you a meeting. I have to talk to them about the wards around the old Niwa mansion and possibly selling some of the safer artwork anyway," said Tsubasa.

* * *

Like Yuuno predicted, Tsubasa and his twin unison devices became quite the buzz around the ship, more so than the Jewel Seeds were.

"Is having a twin Unison Device really _that_ rare?" asked Tsubasa after the fourth time he passed someone whispering about his partners.

"You have no idea," said Amy.

"What's so big about it anyway?"

"You really don't get it do you? Having such a powerful unison device is unusual enough considering your age, but add into the fact it's a twin-spirit one and people are bound to notice you upon sight! There are only records of such devices existing since it's so hard to actually _make_ one that won't eventually drive the user insane or will work well enough that you can take it into combat situations. Then there's the fact that it was made entirely by accident using spare parts from Al Hazard... well, you have a one-of-a-kind device."

"So does this mean I won't be joining Nanoha in finding the seeds?"

"You can still help, but we might as to borrow your device so we can put it in our records. The fact it was made entirely using Terran magic is a big deal after all."

"And by people who barely had any idea of what they were actually doing," said Tsubasa in amusement.

"Which is why we're making sure that it's operating properly, since you were only doing things without any knowledge of how it's normally done," said Amy.

"I'll concede that maybe we need help with it, but I won't hand over Mirror Wings."

"It's a bio-locked device. We wouldn't be allowed to take it from you unless you committed a crime anyway."

"Bio-locked means only I can use it right?"

"It's locked onto your bloodline. Only you or maybe a very close relative could possibly use it."

Tsubasa grinned. That was very good news.

"So is this the famous Twin-Spirit device I've heard about?" asked Mary eagerly.

"Dark, Krad," said Tsubasa.

The twin brothers appeared in their usual flash of light. Amy finally got to see what they looked like, as they tended to stay in their device. Manifesting physically was a bit draining on Tsubasa, which was why they didn't come out very often.

Krad had changed his usual outfit out of boredom, so Dark had decided to match him somewhat.

Krad had an exposed stomach, and his chest was covered by a white shirt that hugged his body. He had a white sleeveless overcoat that covered his back but allowed his wings to come out. His pants were held up by a studded pair of black belt. He had black sleeves covering his hands up to his elbows that were fingerless. His shoes were a deep night black pair of open-toed sandals.

Dark had a black overcoat that covered his stomach which was held closed by a pair of buckles and like Krad it had no sleeves to cover his arms. On his left wrist was a single fingerless glove. He wore a white shirt under his coat and had a pair of black pants that ended in black boots. Around his neck were several chained necklaces, one of which could summon With from anywhere. He had a bangle around his right wrist that looked like something out of a punk rock store.

"Wow! Talk about hotties!" said Mary.

Dark gave her a flirtatious wink.

"Watch out for Dark, he's a noted womanizer," said Tsubasa.

"If you could leave your earrings here, Chrono should be able to help you learn how to use Mid-Childa magic."

"Can I take at least one of them?" asked Tsubasa. He had never been separated from either one of them since he was five.

"Take With along. You might as well work on his doppelganger magic while we're in here," said Dark, handing over the odd rabbit.

"Doppelganger?"

"Daisuke, who was my tamer before we were properly sealed in the mirror and reconciled our issues, was able to teach him how to speak. If you tickle him then he can turn into a double of you."

"Really?" said Tsubasa.

Dark nodded.

Tsubasa let the odd rabbit familiar sit on his shoulder.

"Kyuu!"

* * *

Chrono looked at the nervous boy. He wasn't making any snarky quips, in fact he looked downright worried.

"I understand you've never had Mirror Wings checked out before. I know you're nervous about them," said Chrono.

"I've never taken them off before. It feels weird not having them around to talk to."

"How long have you had them?"

"Since I was five. My aunt had thrown them out because they didn't match and she somehow knew that they were magical."

"Why would your aunt throw them out if they were magical?" asked Chrono.

"She hates magic. There was a reason why I teleported halfway across the world the first chance I had."

"I see. Prepare yourself Tsubasa, because I'm about to teach you combat without using your device. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," said Tsubasa tiredly.

* * *

_Five Hours Later..._

Tsubasa was exhausted and too tired to be worried about Mirror Wings being away. Chrono helped him to limp to the infirmary.

"You're not bad for a Terran mage."

"I've had worse," said Tsubasa. Much, much worse.

Once he was good enough to walk, he found Mary waiting for him.

"They've been cleared for combat use! There were a few systems that were missing, but we had the spare parts here on board."

"What kind of missing systems?" asked Tsubasa.

"Well the combat, flight, defense and sealing systems were in perfect condition. The storage was a bit outdated, but useable, however the long-range teleport was non-existent and you would've had to use your hands to cast any magic outside of your...feathers. Also it would have been difficult for it to self-repair."

"Is that all?" asked Chrono.

"It had most of the bare basics, but it was badly overdue for an upgrade. Not bad for a Non-administrative species who were working on spare parts and boredom."

"What about the Unison system?" asked Chrono. That was one of their biggest concerns.

"Ironically that piece far outstripped our current systems. They can Unison with him either together or completely autonomously. Though it appears physical manifestation was deliberately locked so that they couldn't come out without their partner's command to do so."

"From what I heard, the creators probably feared them getting out of hand," said Tsubasa.

"Considering the artifact they were originally sealed in was able to tap directly into the planet's magical core, that's not very surprising."

* * *

A few days after meeting the twin angels, Lindy had sent someone to check on the mirror with Tsubasa. Needless to say they were shocked that a small clan was able to create something like that without killing the planet.

Fortunately knowledge of the artifact was limited and the goblins certainly didn't talk about it. The only reason Tsubasa was aware of it was because his ancestors _made_ the thing, and he had been sworn in using an ancient charm to keep secrets from being found out by mind readers.

"Since Mirror Wings has been cleared for use, why not try it out?"

"You know we've never actually tried it before?" said Tsubasa.

"_We're game. In fact we feel a little better than before, though the number of charms around my neck has gone up,"_ said Dark.

'You mean that is what those things are?'

"_Well yeah, might as well have a bit of fun. Krad has some of the controls on his belt along the chains."_

"So you want to try Unison for the first time?" asked Chrono.

"Why not."

Tsubasa called his magic to him, then used the activating phrase he came up and Dark chanted with him.

"_**All that is gold does not glitter,**_

_**Not all who wander are lost**_

_**The old that is strong does not whither,**_

_**Deep roots are not touched by the frost**_

_**From the ashes a fire shall be woken**_

_**A light from the shadow shall spring**_

_**Renewed shall be bond that was broken**_

_**The magic once bound shall be free**_

_**Mirror Wings, Unison In!"**_

The twin lights circled Tsubasa at such a fast rate that they turned into silver light and then impacted with his chest. A pair of star-silver wings appeared and enveloped him, and what came out of it surprised them all.

He had aged at least ten years. His hair had turned a light silvery color and it went down to his waist. His eyes were no longer a warm green, but were two colors (ruby for the right and topaz for the left) and his clothes had changed as well. He now had gun metal gray pants that was held up by a pair of belts that were crossed each other with an X-shape and he wore ninja-like shoes. He had a sleeveless over coat that covered his back but didn't hinder his wings at all. His hair was a mixture of Krad's long ponytail with Dark's bangs, except for the long strand that went down the front. Around his neck was a black collar that had a single star.

Judging by how the familiar earrings were missing, it was easy to guess that the star now held the bulk of Mirror Wings.

Everyone in the room was shocked at the dramatic change.

Tsubasa/Mirror Wings blinked.

"This feels so weird," he said.

"You'll get used to it. So what should we call you while you look like this?" asked Lindy. He may as well have a name for this form, seeing as how the other two did.

"Kagami, since they came from a mirror," said Tsubasa.

"Alright, from now on your call sign while you're Unisoned with your device will be Kagami."


	4. Chapter 4

"Tsubasa-nii! Kaa-chan's calling for you!" shouted Nanoha.

"Hai!"

Tsubasa raced down the stairs. His mother laughed as he skidded on the floor a little.

"No running in the house," she said with a smile.

"Hai, hai. What do you need?"

"Nanoha said that you two had joined a fun club that is taking a trip for a month. I wanted to know if you needed anything."

Tsubasa's first reaction to the TSAB was to call it a club to disguise it from their parents. It made more sense than to call it a family emergency when their older siblings weren't going to be taken out in his reasoning.

Admiral Lindy was the chaperone/adult in charge of this club while Chrono was the 'leader'. It kept things nice and tidy and it explained their disappearances until the Jewel Seed incident was over.

Lindy had heard the cover-story and had even spoken to their parents about the 'club' and how they had room for two more on their yearly 'trip'.

"Ano...a few new books would be nice..." said Tsubasa. He was learning 'Earth Magic' on the side, despite not being old enough to actually practice like most.

"How about I let you pick what you want to read on the trip?" suggested his mother with a grin.

Tsubasa cheered.

* * *

"_Storage complete. This upgrade is excellent!"_ said Dark as he stored all of their gear.

"**It's certainly easier than before. Sealing was never a problem, but those seeds were becoming rather difficult to keep in here,"**said Krad.

"It beats having to carry all those books with me," said Tsubasa.

Since they were on the Arthra, Tsubasa didn't have to keep their conversations quiet. In fact he was half tempted to let them out to wander around, if they didn't need to be on call.

"So what sort of books did you bring Tsubasa-nii?" asked Nanoha.

"Most of my basic books," said Tsubasa.

Lindy and the others had expressed an interest in his schooling up till this point so he had brought most of his magic books with him.

"So are you going to take up Chrono's offer to train with him during our hunts?"

"I have to, if I want to be able to reach Fate. You're good Nanoha, but I think someone who understands Fate at a deeper level would be a better idea to face her."

It was something he had discussed with Lindy before. He knew exactly what Fate was going through, only he had escaped in time before he developed something any decent psychiatrist would call 'Stockholm Syndrome'. It was a mental condition that caused the victims to sympathize with their abusers, even to the point where they convince themselves that the pain was normal or that they deserved it for some perceived slight.

Which was why he was the perfect one to challenge Fate and hopefully break whatever hold her abuser had on her. Had he not bonded with Dark and Krad when he had, he never would have been saved...and now he felt it was his turn to do the saving.

The only catch was that he had to learn how to fight. At least he had a head start, as he had been training with Kyouya and Miyuki for well over a year now.

Now he just had to find a way to fight using Mirror Wings.

Mary looked over the books Tsubasa had brought with him while he sparred with Chrono. For now Nanoha and Yuuno were out collecting the seeds, so he wasn't required to do anything. However he always had trouble sitting still.

Chrono leveled his Device at Tsubasa, who was in Kagami form. So far he had all the capabilities all devices had, but he had no idea how to attack. Well, outside of using Krad's feather blitz, but he needed something that wouldn't do minor damage to an enemy.

Kagami learned quickly to get used to his much longer legs and arms. It had been rather awkward walking around in a teenage body when his real one was only nine. He had resorted to using his wings to keep balanced. That was the first thing Chrono had broken him out of.

Nanoha came back to find her brother on the ground passed out.

"Another loss?" she asked with a giggle. It was nice to see Tsubasa reminded of the fact he was still learning.

While Tsubasa had been introduced to magic earlier than her, and had started training more than she did, he also had to learn the first thing she had from scratch.

Combat spells.

"He's decent, but his reactions are a bit slow and his movements are beyond awkward. Considering this is his first actual training into fighting with his magic, he's actually doing rather well," said Chrono.

"He hasn't gotten a big head has he?"

"Surprisingly not. He's an okay fighter, but he's hasn't figured out how to activate the combat mode of his device. At best all he's been able to do is shoot off some bizarre magic spell that looks like feathers of all things," said Chrono.

While his combat experience was sorely lacking, his tactics only needed a bit of refining. He had a set limit of spells that he could do and do well...and he used them to efficiency.

Chrono had lost count of all the times he had found his linker core bound without warning, giving Kagami time to shoot his magic at him. Not to mention the bizarre trick he had picked up from Krad, the more violent of the twins.

He was able to shoot odd magical creations at Chrono, though the effectiveness of them was lacking.

"Ow..." said Kagami. They had finally managed to get rid of that annoying echo quality in his voice. Apparently he had been using too much magic when he merged, hence the odd echo.

"How was training, aniki?" giggled Nanoha.

"Ow..." was all he would say about it.

"Perhaps you should separate and head to the infirmary..." suggested Chrono.

Two balls of light came off Kagami, revealing Krad and Dark. They each took a side of the exhausted boy and put him on Dark's back.

Tsubasa had set the device to allow them out in the event of injury or magical exhaustion, though they could only manifest their bodies. Using magic was out of the question until he recovered.

Considering they had been stuck in a mirror and sharing the bodies of others for centuries, they could live with a little restriction like that.

* * *

"Mou, Tsubasa-san, you shouldn't be so reckless!" said the doctor.

"I almost had it this time though..." pouted Tsubasa.

"What were you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if the feathers can be made into weapons, since neither of these two chuckleheads have ever used any before," said Tsubasa.

"Technically we are weapons. Besides, if we had used any back then, chances are we would have done more damage. At best I can use the standard tools of the shinobi trade but that's mostly as a last resort," said Dark.

"Shinobi? You mean like ninja?" asked Nanoha.

"Yeah. The Niwa clan used to make learning how to use things like shuriken, kunai and ninjato a requirement to be considered worthy of awakening to my talent, but once the class system fell apart the practice went into disuse. I think I can still remember how," said Dark.

"So the Niwa were a clan of shinobi?" said Nanoha.

"Actually they were something else, but no one ever told me which planet they originated from. But I do know that the Niwa aren't from Earth...they only became that way after a few centuries," said Dark.

"What?" said Yuuno.

"The Hikari clan were artists in nature who learned magic by accident. But the Niwa came from another world and brought their magic with them. If I remember right, the original disagreement between them stemmed from the fact that the Niwa realized what the Hikari were doing and were trying to stop them. Then we were accidentally sealed into one of each clan, and things deteriorated from there," explained Dark.

"So the Niwa aren't from Earth, but another world and knew enough about magic to train their children... but when you two appeared by mistake, they lost the teachings and had to resort to Terran magic as their back-up..." said Yuuno.

"Ano, is it possible for me to visit the Niwa mansion for a few days? Maybe we can shed some light on why I've been having trouble making a weapon," asked Tsubasa.

"I think we all need a break from hunting Jewel seeds," said Yuuno.

* * *

The first real clue as to _where_ the Niwa originated from came from a klaxon sound that was telepathic in origin. Nanoha, Chrono and Yuuno all winced while Tsubasa was unaffected.

"What in the world was that?" asked Chrono.

"What was what?" asked Tsubasa.

"There was some sort of harsh sound just now!" said Nanoha. Her ears were ringing.

"_Opps...I think I remember the Niwa talking about a barrier around the house..."_ said Dark sheepishly.

'And you didn't think to _inform_ us?'

"_Well to be fair I thought the thing was gone by now. I mean the last barriers added were mostly to keep the Hikari from getting close without an alarm,"_ said Dark.

'How do I turn it off?'

"_I have no idea. I wasn't even aware that the thing was still active...and the Niwa haven't practiced with a device for as long as I was awake,"_ admitted Dark.

"Hang on guys while I try to find the source of the alarm... apparently the Niwa had a barrier around it...though I wonder why I didn't hear anything."

~Just hurry up. We'll be in the backyard until you turn it off,~said Chrono.

'Dark, wide-area search. I have the feeling whatever set this thing off wouldn't react well to Krad doing it,'said Tsubasa.

_~Wide Area Search~_ intoned Dark, casting a spell to do just that. He ignored the Niwa artwork, he was already familiar with those...but finally he felt a 'ping' on the other end of his search magic. It seemed to resonate with him for some reason.

"_Found it. Tell them it will be a few minutes before we turn it off...it's pretty far down."_

'Dark, that's what _wings_ are for,' retorted Tsubasa.

"Guys wait outside while I turn this thing off. Apparently it's really far down in the house," said Tsubasa.

"I'll contact the Arthra...call us when you have it shut off," said Chrono with a wince.

Tsubasa opened the door to the basement, ignoring the sealing chamber and the room full of Hikari artwork that had gone berserk. He had been able to sell off a little of it, most of the magic had been removed a while ago and he had no reason to keep it...though he did leave a magical tracer on it should it prove necessary.

It took him thirty minutes to safely get down, as the area was too narrow for wings and he had never really gotten the hang on flight spells to even consider it an option.

He put his hand on a door, only to yelp as it nicked him. The door was completely out of place and it was a wonder that no one had thought to find this before.

Strange lines danced throughout the door frame, eventually moving aside to reveal...a rather irate fairy?

"It's about time! Do you have _any_ idea how long I've been stuck down here to maintain the defenses?!" he yelled at the surprised boy.

"At least five hundred years by my guess?" asked Tsubasa.

"Try seven! It wasn't bad at first, but then those idiot terrans had to make that damn mirror and you lot quit coming to check on me! If I hadn't put myself into a forced hibernation I would have died from boredom alone! Now what do you have to say about this?" demanded the tiny boy.

"First off, we didn't know there _was_ a Unison device down here. And secondly, after Dark was sealed into the clan they forgot a _lot_ about magic...so much so that I'm the last Niwa alive to even use it... You are a Unison device aren't you?"

"Of course I am! Shadow Night is my name," said the boy.

"Could you possibly turn off the alarm system? My friends were driven off by some weird noise earlier," asked Tsubasa.

"You mean those dumb Mid-Childans? I thought they were a bit young for an assault team, but I assumed that they tried to bring you down here by force or trickery," said Shadow Night.

"Actually we were trying to learn more about the clan. It seemed that forgetting about you wasn't the only thing they lost," said Tsubasa.

Shadow Night removed the alarms, though he kept them inactive. It took them fifteen minutes to find Tsubasa in the underground room.

* * *

"Tsubasa, what was that all about?" asked Chrono.

"Chrono, meet Shadow Night."

"Yo," said the unison device.

"Oh good lord, not another one. It's bad enough you have a twin-soul unison device..." said Chrono in annoyance.

"How long ago did the Niwa clan come here?" asked Yuuno eagerly.

"Last time we were back home, we had narrowly escaped being attacked by the Tome of the Night Sky...some idiot Mid-Childa mage had managed to break the Defense program. I feel sorry for Nacht," said Shadow.

"Wait, what?" said Chrono.

"Tell them the same thing you told me," suggested Tsubasa, who looked like he was sporting a massive headache.

"Which side won the war?" asked Shadow.

"War? Don't tell me..." asked Yuuno.

"I'm fairly certain that the Niwa clan escaped your known territories during the Belkan Wars," said Tsubasa, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Which would make two Lost Logia, though at least this one was intentionally made," said Chrono.

"Shadow, can you lead us to any material before Dark's first appearance, or preferably before the clan came to Earth? We're hoping to at least piece together how an entire clan managed to survive the war," asked Tsubasa.

At the very least Yuuno would be happy.

"I can do better than that. Part of the clan's duties was to act as spies, and despite what my users wanted, I kept most of the data. Plus I know where they hid the books and other Intelligent Devices."

Shadow had been bored, so every so often he would explore the house that he could reach. Eventually he found the vaults where they sealed everything from before they were known as the Niwa clan. Probably to keep the Hikari from ruining everything by mistake.


	5. Chapter 5

"What have you found Yuuno?" asked Lindy.

"This is absolutely fascinating!" said Yuuno excitedly.

The information Shadow let him see was nearly impossible to find, at least not intact or legible anyway. And the video files showed actual battles and incidents during the Belka- Midchilda wars. Something most people would be hard pressed to find in any decent quality.

Most of the devices were damaged, but still useable. Since they belonged to Tsubasa, he had decided to wait before he handed them over.

Shadow Night, the lone Unison Device of the lot, had firmly refused to leave Tsubasa's side since he was the last of the Niwa clan. However that just meant he had bonded to him, but couldn't Unison since Tsubasa already had a Device. He regarded Shadow as his Ace in the Hole, so to speak.

Lindy waited patiently for Yuuno to collect his thoughts.

"The Niwa clan are the last remnants of an ancient order of spies and assassins from the Belkan Empire known as Shadow Stalkers. Their primary goal was to be the dagger of the Belkan army, acting much like shinobi would back on Earth. Most of their techniques were deemed lost to time when the last clan died out, though I suppose the Niwa were considered very minor as their primary function was to act as thieves and saboteurs. It seems that roughly five hundred years into the war, they were set free from the Army after some dispute over something called the Tome of the Night Sky...apparently Shadow was a good friend of the main program called Nacht at the time and the fact that the Belka refused to rescue his friend caused the split. They ended up on Earth and stayed there, though they kept up the art until the incident which created Dark and Krad. After that it was a slow decline until their linker cores were all but forgotten," said Yuuno.

Shadow popped up from out of nowhere, handing Yuuno something. His eyes lit up when he read it.

"What does it say?"

"Well according to this, there was a piece stolen from the Niwa clan before they sealed away the devices. Fortunately they don't have the same alarm system the Niwa had for Mid-Childa mages. Tsubasa said he'd let me investigate the Hikari clan to find anything interesting, since I'm better at it than he is," said Yuuno.

"That's not all! Tsubasa said you could have your pick from the Intelligent Devices to see if any would respond to your magic. Most of them have been cleared for use, and he said that he wasn't going to leave one of his friends without something to help," said Shadow.

Yuuno perked up at that.

"I'll leave you two at it," laughed Lindy.

Yuuno ended up with a Device which specialized in spying oddly enough. It was shaped like a shuriken and it really seemed to like Yuuno. Since Tsubasa planned to keep most of the Devices unless they found a master they liked, chances were that some of Nanoha's friends would get one as well once they were brought into the secret.

Though Shadow's best friend, a Unison Device named Nacht, set Chrono on edge for reasons he didn't know.

It wasn't until Yuuno went looking for a device called the Tome of the Night Sky that he learned why.

The Tome of the Night Sky...was currently known as the Book of Darkness. The same device that killed Chrono's father. Things could get complicated if the Book showed up again.

* * *

"Holy cow!" said Tsubasa, watching the footage of Fate over the ocean.

Lindy was about to tell them to leave Fate alone while she could get killed, but Tsubasa was already off the ship before she could get the order out.

Mostly because he had noted something everyone else hadn't. The location where Fate was dealing with cyclones. No way was he leaving things to chance when she was that close to the Niwa house!

Because Fate had recklessly awakened the jewels so close to Amazuno, Tsubasa decided to get creative.

He brought out Dark.

"_All that is gold does not glitter_

_Not all who wander are lost_

_The old that is strong does not whither,_

_Deep roots are not reached by the frost_

_From the ashes a fire shall be woken_

_A light from the shadow shall spring_

_Renewed shall be shield that was broken_

_The thief again shall be free_

_Mirror Wings: Phantom Mode, Unison In!"_ chanted Tsubasa.

The black feather detached mid-fall and struck Tsubasa in the chest where his heart was. Blood red wings burst from his back before they enveloped him and turned a night black in color.

The black wings broke free and revealed a familiar figure.

Phantom Dark was alive again.

'Hey Dark, can I leave the sealing and defense to you? Me and Krad will deal with any attacks she tries to send our way,' said Tsubasa.

Dark didn't react to his voice. It was so familiar, hearing someone talk to you without actually seeing them in person. Mary wasn't joking about the fact that Mirror Wings had a far superior Unison system in place.

Instead of a partial unison, Mirror Wings did a _complete_ unison with the user. It was a side effect of the direct bond Dark and Krad originally had with their Tamers.

Dark shot chains made of magic at the cyclones, stopping them in their path.

"Who are..." said Fate.

He gave her a winning smile, but it was the eyes that caught her attention.

"Those eyes...are you Tsubasa?"

Dark smiled at her, only this one was genuine.

"Tsubasa is my Master. I am half of his unison device. You may call me Dark. You are not alone anymore Fate-chan," said Dark.

"Half of his Unison Device?" said Aruf.

"I am Dark, sealing and defense specialist. My brother is Krad, attack and magical creation. Between the two of us we are Mirror Wing, Tsubasa's device. Know this Fate Testarossa, Tsubasa would never hurt someone who has suffered the same as he has for so long. He will stop at nothing to set you free of the pain," said Dark.

"I see. And the reason you are here?"

"He's being selfish for once. The Jewel Seeds you activated are too close to his family's old home, and he has no desire to see it destroyed because the TSAB don't want to interfere. So I beat Nanoha here as a precaution," said Dark.

_Up on the Arthra..._

"Where is that location anyway?" asked Chrono, having heard the comment.

"Less than fifty miles from Amazuno on Earth. I guess Tsubasa noticed it before we did," said Amy.

"Well I suppose I can forgive him if he was doing it to protect that house. The Niwa clan are far too intriguing to let go," said Lindy.

That and she had the feeling that the house had yet to reveal all it's secrets.

"Ano...can I go down and help Tsubasa?" asked Nanoha.

"Since he left before I ordered everyone to stand down, I suppose I'll allow it," said Lindy.

Nanoha raced to the transporter and was chanting the activating password before Lindy could change her mind.

* * *

Dark swore. First Fate activated these blasted cyclones too close to the house, now he had to deal with her fighting him!

Whoever held the other end of her leash held far more loyalty than he thought.

The worst part was that he couldn't get a moment of peace to switch with Krad, despite being the defense specialist. It was highly irritating that his Support magic was utterly useless in battlefield conditions.

_~You are entirely hopeless! Why didn't it occur to you to _ask_ for help?~_ demanded a voice. Dark realized it was Shadow.

"_Kinda busy here Shadow! And no time for Tsubasa to get used to your controls!"_

_~BAKA. Who said anything about _Tsubasa_ learning my controls? You were created out of Niwa magic, which means you should have partial access to my attack spells. At the very least you should have access to the weapon programs in my software.~_

Dark blinked. It was worth a shot.

"_Access Granted for Software Patch. Downloading... Download complete. Now accessing new systems."_

Dark's hand flexed, and there were tiny sparks of magic from his fingers.

Fate cried out in surprise when he started throwing what appeared to be shuriken at her. Underneath Dark, the magic circle took a new form.

Mirror Wings was created from lost technology by accident, but Dark's true magic was set to Belkan. The entire reason why Tsubasa had such difficulty accessing a weapon form was because he was using the wrong magic formula.

Thanks to the fact Dark had been in the Niwa clan long enough to adapt to their original magic style, which was Belkan in origin, he was able to access a very limited amount of Shadow Night's programming code. With the new software patch installed, Mirror Wings got a massive...and much needed...upgrade.

Which meant Dark finally had something to work with instead of just seals and defense.

"Just because my Master is sympathetic to you doesn't mean I'll let you do as you please," said Dark flatly.

There was a blast of pink as Nanoha appeared. She paused when she saw Dark's eyes.

"What?"

"You're eyes... they're purple!"

"What?"

Dark manifested a mirror from his storage area and looked. Sure enough, his ruby-colored eyes were now streaked with purple...the same color as Shadow's eyes. Judging by the timing he supposed it had something to do with the software patch he just added.

"It's nothing Nanoha-chan," said Dark.

Everything was at a stale mate...when a crack of inter-dimensional lightning struck Fate.

"Fate-chan!" cried Nanoha.

Dark swooped in, ignoring all dangers around him to catch the girl. Aruf growled, until he did something that shocked her.

He handed Fate over to her familiar.

"I don't know who holds her leash, or why she agrees to do their bidding, but no child should ever have such scars. When you're ready to talk, go to that house on the bluff with the barriers around it. It will shield you as best it can from another attack. We aren't your enemies, familiar."

"It's Aruf," said the wolf-familiar.

She memorized the location of the house in question before she grabbed half the seeds and teleported away.

Dark and his Master Tsubasa honestly wanted to help Fate. There was no way she could believe otherwise.

* * *

"Any reason you offered sanctuary to the one attacking us?" asked Chrono.

"Fate isn't the one we're after. She's just a loyal attack dog. The one we want is whoever is controlling her. Judging by her actions, I would bet it's someone close, likely a parent," said Tsubasa flatly.

"I agree. Fate is clearly in a lot of pain, and close-ups revealed she has a lot of scars. And we may have a lead on who her puppeteer is," said Lindy.

She pulled up a screen. It was a woman in her thirties with long purple hair and tired eyes.

"Presea Testarossa, former mage of the Bureau. No records of a girl named Fate, but there is one of Alicia. However all indications are that the girl died in an accident that cost Precia her license," said Amy.

Tsubasa looked at Alicia, and something bugged him.

"Do you have a picture of Alicia?" he asked.

Amy brought it up.

"What year is it according to your calenders?" he asked.

"0065, why?" asked Lindy.

"Because I think I know what's going on. Fate is Presea's daughter, but not in the normal way. I think she's Alicia's clone," said Tsubasa.

"What makes you say that?" asked Chrono.

"Look at the date of her death. Fate's too young for her to be Alicia with amnesia, however Presea has had plenty of time to make a clone of her daughter. What if Presea was trying to bring back Alicia through Fate, but when that failed she decided to try reviving her dead daughter?" asked Tsubasa.

"Tsubasa-nii, you read way too much manga," said Nanoha.

"But his theory does make some sense. It would explain her desire for the Jewel Seeds, if she was attempting to bring back her dead child," said Chrono.

"And there is some valid cloning methods used..." said Lindy, "They're highly illegal but his theory could be possible."

"And the timelines match up. Clones take years to produce, and if she was trying to clone her daughter it would take time to let it mature," said Chrono.

"You don't seriously believe his idea?" asked Nanoha.

"Well it's a better explanation than anything we currently have, and it would fit the time frame easily. If Presea had Fate retrieving the Jewel Seeds to revive her dead child, it would explain quite a bit."

"'Mother is the name of god in the world of a child'," quoted Tsubasa.

Nanoha gave him an odd look.

"Have you been playing Kyouya's games again?"

"Nope, I snuck in and watched _Silent Hill_ when he did. Should have seen the look on his face when he found out I had been hiding the whole time. Talk about gory," said Tsubasa smirking. The grounding had been entirely worth it though.

"_Silent Hill_?" asked Chrono.

"_Silent Hill_ is a movie that was based off a game. Basically this town which is ruled by some nutty religious doctrine turns on an innocent girl with a unique power. They eventually try to ritually sacrifice her in an attempt to 'cleanse' her by tricking her mother just because she doesn't know her own father. The girl is saved, but her powers go berserk and send the entire church and it's followers into a world of pure darkness, one from which there is no escape. Anyone caught outside the church when the world goes dark is killed in a rather messy fashion. Eventually what's left of the girl's good nature returns and kills the church off."

Lindy blinked twice. That sounded rather...horrific.

"And he let you watch something like that?"

"Nope. Hid on the ceiling until near the end, and Kyouya figured I was already going to have nightmares anyway from the gruesome deaths, so I might as well finish the movie. I was grounded for a month though," grinned Tsubasa, putting his hands behind his head.

Nanoha sighed in annoyance.

"I'll never understand your fascination with horror movies."

Tsubasa stuck a tongue at her. After the fifth time Kyouya caught him watching a horror movie not meant for children (and surprisingly went to sleep without nightmares bothering him) he had given up and decided to make it a reward for doing something right, or as a special treat. After that the brothers set a date for a shared movie night, to the displeasure of their mother.

At least Tsubasa had something in common with Kyouya outside of learning how to use a sword. Even if their mother didn't exactly approve of it.


	6. Chapter 6

Fate cried out in pain as the whip cut into her body. Her mother was displeased by her failure in retrieving most of the six seeds she had forcefully activated over the ocean...or by failing to kill the man with the red eyes.

Aruf winced and wondered why she hadn't already kidnapped her master and hidden her away in that house yet. Tsubasa clearly didn't want Fate to be in anymore pain than she already was, and he was familiar with her situation.

She would give anything to protect Fate from this hell.

* * *

Tsubasa left Mirror Wings with Mary to see what exactly the software patch (as Dark called it) had done to his device. While it gave Dark a small amount of attacks, which was more than he had before, it also changed his eye color.

On his shoulder was Shadow Wing and With, each on opposite sides.

Chrono wanted him to practice with his secondary device while Dark and Krad were being checked out. He believed Tsubasa had been putting it off long enough.

Besides, they needed to see if it was possibly to synch with a second Unison device after bonding with one already.

Tsubasa looked at Shadow Night.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be. Let's do this!" said Shadow happily.

"_Students of the Stars_

_Children of the Night_

_We are your loyal dagger_

_Your hidden blade_

_Gather your blessings unto this vessel_

_So that we may act as your shadow_

_In this eternal darkness_

_Shadow Night, Unison In!"_

Chrono watched the Unison, which for once did like it should.

Where Tsubasa's reddish-black hair was before, was now a silver-haired boy with purple eyes. His outfit looked like Dark's Phantom Thief one, only there were a pair of silver gloves. He wore shoes meant for fast running and quick maneuvers. All in all he looked like a ninja at the very least.

Shadow stretched with a grin.

"_It's so great to finally be able to connect to a User again!"_

"Perhaps this time Tsubasa might be able to fight back during our spars," said Chrono.

"_From the data I borrowed from Dark, it was mostly him getting used to Unison mode and longer limbs. He should have less trouble while we're in Unison,"_ said Shadow.

Aside from a change in hair and eye color, Tsubasa had roughly the same size as he did normally.

"Ready to test out the attack programs?" asked Chrono.

Shadow nodded. Years of talking to Dark and Krad meant that Tsubasa was able to take a back seat and still stay in control.

Chrono activated his barrier jacket and charged. Shadow jumped to the wall and kicked off before trying to land a blow on Chrono. Unlike before, Tsubasa had no trouble moving. Possibly because he wasn't getting used to an increase in size.

"Let's try attack spells then. Snipe Shot!"

Usually Chrono focused on getting Tsubasa out of his clumsy stage...he had yet to use attack spells on him.

Shadow grinned.

"_Gather stars of darkness into my hand..._"whispered Shadow.

Pinpricks of dark light appeared behind him. It was disturbingly similar to that of Fate's lightning attacks.

"_Night Blaster!"_

Like arrows made of the night sky, they launched as fast as missiles. Chrono had to block the attacks. That was when he noticed something odd.

"Where's your staff?" he asked.

"_Shadow Stalkers were trained to harness magic a different way from the regular Belkan army. Instead of a staff or sword, we used multiple weapons to channel the magic. It's why I was able to give Dark that software patch. We have no set weapon of choice...we create our own to suit the battlefield."_

"What about the Cartridge system?"

"_What of it? Like I said, Shadow Stalkers channel the magic differently. Instead of using pre-charged cartridges, we store magic directly from the core when not in use. In other words, while we're not active, we take all the energy that is burned off normally during the day and store it for later. Much more efficient, though the training to do so takes years to accomplish."_

"And how has Tsubasa done that? I thought the art was lost?"

"_Dark accidentally absorbed that ability when he bonded with the clan, and it kept passing on to each generation. So long as he's bonded with them, they don't need to learn the skill. It happens automatically."_

"Fortunate."

"_More like he absorbed it entirely by luck. If he hadn't, then it might have taken a while to set that trick up,"_ admitted Shadow.

The Shadow Stalker's trick of absorbing magic for later was a by-far more efficient system than the cartridges. Too bad the Belkans never cared for it, preferring their tried and true method of storing magic in those silly bullets.

The doors hissed as Dark and Krad came in. During maintenance mode, they mostly took on their corporeal forms to help out. Unless they were in sleep mode of course. Dark and Krad both had wide eyes when they realized that the silver-haired boy was Tsubasa.

"So it worked?" asked Dark softly to Lindy.

"It works. Though his primary Device is you two, he still had a connection to Shadow. These readings indicate that his connection signal isn't nearly as strong as yours is," said Lindy, showing him the results.

There was a clear difference in the latency. While Tsubasa could handle a Unison with Shadow Wing, the amount of feedback meant that he had a bit of delay in his response time. She pulled up their results...the time delay between commands and spell casting was almost nonexistent.

Dark and Krad weren't surprised by that.

The reason why their Unison program was superior to _anything_ they had on record was because of one simple fact. They were used to _direct_ Unison, without a device. Those like Shadow Wing, who used a system with a buffer would have some glitches in it eventually. If the Device was ever damaged, they could hide inside the linker core of their partner, in this case Tsubasa.

"What I don't understand is why the latency is this high..." said Amy, looking at the readouts. By all rights the time-out should be somewhat lower, since Tsubasa was clearly compatible with Shadow Wing. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be able to change his appearance that drastically at all.

_'Should we tell them?'_ asked Dark to Krad.

**'No. The last thing they need is to know about our direct Unison,'** replied Krad.

_'I think Yuuno will notice eventually,'_ said Dark.

**'Not if he's distracted he won't. Remember, I know where most of the Hikari archives were. We can delay as long as we have to if need be. Not to mention what the Potters might have had hidden.'**

_'True. I wonder what surprises James' half of his heritage would have in store. I mean I wasn't exactly expecting the Niwa to be so...'_

**'Neither of us were expecting them to be so powerful, or to hide as much as they did during our fights. Makes me wonder how things _could_ have gone had we not be split from the start.'**

Dark agreed completely. Had the Niwa really gone all out on the Hikari, there was little doubt what _would_ have happened.

Complete and unreserved slaughter...which, when you added to the fact that the mirror was tied directly into the planets magical lines of power, would have been a complete disaster. There was little wonder why they sealed off their original magic, if it meant preventing something like that.

Finally Lindy called the spar over.

For the first time, Tsubasa had managed to hold his own in a fight, likely because he wasn't getting used to longer limbs.

Dark had an idea, one that he couldn't believe he hadn't considered before.

"You know this is actually the first time I've ever been out and about so early. Normally I have to wait a while before the Linker Core can handle the strain," he said conversationally.

"What do you mean?" asked Chrono, accepting a water from Amy.

"Well, in the old days I had to wait until the male heir of the clan reached fourteen before I could 'awaken' for lack of a better term. And the kid had to be experiencing a specific state of emotional stress for it to work properly," said Dark.

Yuuno blinked.

"I remember reading something about that. Every boy in the clan had to be fourteen and have a romantic interest before you would show up."

"Seriously?" said Chrono, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Love is one of the most powerful emotions available to all sentient creatures. I keyed the transformation to it because it was the most stable one I could find...though I did occasionally embarrass the poor idiots," said Dark.

"From what Krad has told me, you sometime appeared without their say-so simply because their crush was nearby or had talked to them," said Tsubasa dryly.

Everyone looked at Dark, then at Krad.

"What? I wasn't well received by the Hikari clan to begin with, and it only grew worse during the fighting. Eventually I gave up trying to communicate with them at all unless I was trying to take control by force. It's not like they cared about me like the Niwa did with Dark!" said Krad irritable.

He was very surprised when Tsubasa actually hugged him.

"I know you were frustrated Krad. They refused to listen to you and saw you only as a family curse," said Tsubasa.

Krad had spoken briefly about his time as the Hikari's spirit, but never fondly like Dark had. Tsubasa was a definite change from the old pattern of behavior...and he preferred it. At least he was willing to listen to him.

Dark was the lucky one. The Niwa never saw him as a curse, but rather a mixed blessing of sorts.

"Now that we've got a basic understanding, how did the maintenance go?" asked Chrono.

"My eyes change to purple briefly while I'm accessing the extra data Shadow let me have. He also gave me a good idea for Kagami to try instead of finding a Device or weapon to add to our already full programs."

"He mentioned something to that effect. So you think you're ready to try again?" asked Chrono.

"Hopefully," said Dark.

* * *

Tsubasa was in his mindscape. The first time Dark showed him this, he had been skeptical. Then he told him how to build barriers to keep mind readers (like the old man he vaguely remembered placing him on that doorstep) out. Ever since then, whenever he was bored or they needed to focus, he would practice adding to them.

At the very least he would detect an intrusion.

_'Ready Tsubasa?'_

'Ready Dark. How about you Krad?'

**'Let's see if Shadow was correct...'**

Tsubasa grinned from his little recliner in his head.

"_**Shadow Wing-Drive Ignition,"**_they intoned as one.

Kagami's feathers did their usual stunt of flying everywhere, only this time they didn't act as an attack. The feathers seemed to line up in a row until they formed some sort of weapon. Inspection revealed it to be a katana of sorts.

"Impressive. You used your feathers to become a weapon that only you can use," said Chrono.

Kagami grinned back.

"That's not all we're going to do. Featherstorm: Whip Mode," said Kagami.

The katana lengthened until the feathers were all connected from tip to quill and Chrono's teeth clenched. It was far too much like Signum, the General of the Book of Darkness and her snake-like whip for his liking. It didn't help that the feathers became more broad or the quill end became narrower.

"And now...let's try a bow!" said Kagami. He was thrilled to _finally_ have something to fight with, even if it was a modification of his feather blitzkrieg.

The feathers lined up like they had with the sword form, only this time it looked more like a pair of silvery wings with a string of magic between each tip. Kagami tried to pull back, but he found that instead of forming an arrow, he had his magic turning into a bolt of silvery-purple.

Chrono glared at it. Yet another similarity between Shadow Night and the Book of Darkness.

"What's up with you Chrono?" asked Tsubasa.

"Nothing," said Chrono.

Tsubasa stopped him completely.

"That look wasn't just nothing Chrono Harloawn. How quickly you forget that unlike Nanoha, I know what pure loathing looks like. Why did my weapons cause that reaction?" demanded Tsubasa bluntly.

Chrono sighed, then looked around. They were completely alone aside from each other.

"Fine. The weapons you created are near identical to those that belonged to the ones who killed my father almost ten years ago. Seeing even a small likeness tends to remind me of the Wolkenritter."

"Cloud Knights. Perhaps Shadow can explain that," said Tsubasa.

Shadow floated over to Tsubasa's shoulder. He found fairy form to be easier to maintain since he didn't have a direct link to Tsubasa.

"What's up?"

"Why did the whip and bow look like the one used by Signum?"

"Signum, the Blazing General? How in the world would you know what her weapon looks like?" asked Shadow in surprise.

"Follow me," said Chrono.

* * *

"This...is the Book of Darkness and those who defend the Masters."

"Signum, the Blazing General. Shamal, Knight of the Lake and one of the best Support specialists ever seen. And Zafira, the strongest Guardian Beast in the entire Belkan Army. I don't recognize the runt though," said Shadow frowning.

"She goes by the name Vita. Her device has been recorded as Graf Eisen," said Chrono.

"That explains it. She was still an up-and-comer when we left. But why do you call Nacht the Book of Darkness? Her proper designation is the Tome of the Night Sky. She was considered the sword of the Kaiser clan," said Shadow.

"Because since she went rogue, we've had disaster after disaster. All indications are that once the book is complete, the world it's on would be destroyed," said Chrono.

"I wondered what you Mid-Childans did to her... the only reason it would go out of control would be because they attempted to access her by force, and when that failed they likely added a second soul to subvert her authority. Can I see the footage?"

Chrono flipped a switch, and Shadow's frown grew deeper. Suddenly he stopped the video. It was a picture of the primary voice of the Book of Darkness.

"There. That isn't Nacht. I think the main issue is that there's a second soul in the Device that shouldn't be."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Well if I could get close, I might be able to take control of the Book itself," said Shadow.

"What?!"

"Nacht was the Sword of the Belkan army, I was the Dagger. We were designed to compliment each other, and in the event of a corrupted program, we can take complete control of the other one's area. Like say a program that shouldn't have been added or one that was corrupted and refused Administrative Control. It was a safe guard for situations like this," said Shadow.

"You were partnered with the Book of Darkness?" asked Lindy. Seeing their surprise, she said "I wondered why Chrono had accessed those particular files."

"It's in my name. I am Shadow Night, though my full name is Shadow of the Night Sky. We served as the safeguard for events like this. Where Nacht is the powerhouse, I was support and infiltration. The last user of mine during the War was a Niwa, but after the Royal Family refused to let me at least try to bring Nacht away from the Mid-Childans, we broke off and left them. In fact it was because of me that they ended up on Earth in the first place," said Shadow frowning.

"I see. We'll need to file a report about this to HQ. The chances of at least ending that reincarnation program in the Book are too tempting to pass up, and since you already have a user..."

"How bad?" asked Tsubasa.

"Very."


	7. Chapter 7

While Nanoha and Yuuno were wrapping up with the Jewel Seeds, Tsubasa and Shadow worked on their teamwork. The chances of freeing the Book of Darkness from it's self-destructive cycle was too tempting to resist.

So the TSAB made a request. Nanoha would handle the Jewel Seeds with Yuuno while Tsubasa and Shadow worked on their teamwork. When the Book of Darkness reappeared, Shadow and Tsubasa would attempt a hostile retake of the book's controls and hopefully stop it from being filled early enough to actually do something.

Considering one of the requirements Shadow made for being his Device while Mirror Wing was out of commission was to save Nacht, the control program for the book, Tsubasa put his spare time into doing just that.

Though the lessons in Ancient Belkan he could do without, no matter _how_ similar it was to German.

* * *

It was supposed to be his day off. He was even allowed to visit Amazuno for a while.

Except he heard Shadow's surprised shout of alarm that the wards around the house had been breached. Tsubasa raced to the house...only to find a heavily injured Aruf in the yard.

'Shadow, what do I do?'he begged.

_~Calm down and work with me. Have Dark and Krad get the medical supplies. Once she's stabilized we might have to ask the Arthra for help.~_

Tsubasa took a deep breath and gently placed a hand on Aruf's side. He remembered something he had watched with Nanoha shortly before this nonsense began.

_Your magic knows what to do. Just take a deep breath, and tell it what you need...and let it happen!_

He reached into his magical core and calmed himself. His magic knew what to do, he just had to direct it. So, he told it what he wanted and allowed his magic to take hold.

"_Tsubasa, what are you..."_

Waves of pure magic, untouched by the usual power of a Device or magic circle came off Tsubasa. Dark, Krad and Shadow watched in shock as Tsubasa directed his magic without any aid or knowledge from them...and healed the more serious wounds on the familiar. He wasn't using any spell or conduit, but pure magic.

Krad immediately realized what he was doing.

"**He's using his magical core for Terran magic!"** he said in shock.

"_What?"_

"**That's the same core the Hikari clan have! Unlike the Belka or the Mid Childa, Terrans have a separate core that fuels their magic. Tsubasa has been touching the bare bones of Terran magic, but with all the emphasis on Linker Cores I didn't think it would ever manifest..."**

"_Because we've been draining all excess magic from _both_ cores since our bonding as part of my programming, hiding the signs,"_ said Dark.

Dark had never even thought about it before, but part of the reason he was so good at sealing was because of the ability he had inherited from the Niwa clan before they forgot about it. As a consequence of sealing and using up excess magic, the Niwa clan never displayed the usual signs.

And yet here Tsubasa was, showing his Terran magic without something to conduct it.

Aruf blinked twice, her pain all but gone aside from some bruises and minor cuts. She felt something small leaning against her, and found Tsubasa out cold against her side.

"How..."

"You came here and were badly wounded. Tsubasa tapped into his Terran core to heal you directly. We didn't know he _could_ tap into that core," said Krad.

"Terran?" asked Aruf. She had never heard of a Terran Core.

"On Earth, there are magic users who don't use devices, but sticks of wood or other focuses. We've been calling them Terran mages," said Krad.

"Though to be fair, only Krad knows anything about this. Since my magic was set to Belkan I haven't actually seen much outside of what Yuri and her husband did before Tsubasa bonded with us."

"Terran magic is more about instinct rather than calculations. What Tsubasa did could be classified as either accidental or wandless magic...though with how much he was letting off I would go with accidental. The thing is he used so much that he'll be sleeping for a while," said Krad.

"Will he be alright?"

"He just needs to sleep for a bit. He'll be fine. Now how did you end up in that state?"

"I challenged Presea on the way she treated Fate. She's insane!" said Aruf.

Hearing what the wolf had seen and how Presea acted, Dark looked at Krad.

"You know what this means right?" he asked.

"Yup. Tsubasa won the betting pool. Nanoha's going to be annoyed," said Krad smirking.

"Betting pool?"

"Tsubasa had a theory as to why Presea was abusing her daughter and forcing her to gather the seeds. He firmly believes she was doing this to bring back her biological daughter Alicia who died in an accident a few decades ago. He also believes Fate is in fact a clone of Alicia, which would explain why Presea hates her enough to be so abusive," explained Dark.

"That would explain that weird girl floating in the liquid..." said Aruf, her tail swishing this way and that.

"Yeah, the thing is a betting pool was started because the head honchos back at the TSAB headquarters didn't like the fact that Tsubasa had a theory which sounded like it came out of a fiction novel. So they told Lindy to figure out what was really going on. The next thing we know, there's a betting pool started between three of the mages. Nanoha, Chrono and Tsubasa."

"Chrono believes Presea wants to reach Al Hazard to gain power against the TSAB. Nanoha thinks she wants to just use the Jewel Seeds for the power, and like we said before, Tsubasa firmly believes she's doing this to bring back her dead child," said Dark.

"So...where is this place?"

"The Niwa's family home. They're Belkan mages who were cut off from the War after an internal dispute who settled here and modified their original goal after an accident. Tsubasa is the last of the clan, which means he gets the house."

"Ow! What was that?"

"Sorry, force of habit. We left during the war and things only got worse, so I have control over the alarm system here," said Shadow sheepishly.

"Again Shadow?" said Dark.

Aruf was given sanctuary inside the Niwa house, mostly because Tsubasa didn't really trust the TSAB not to arrest her for helping Fate.

He had the weirdest feeling that the Niwa house would become his new base of operations for dealing with the TSAB and Earth's magical communities later.

Finding out Tsubasa had been right all along about why Fate was collecting the seeds had been only a mild shock.

* * *

Nanoha challenged Fate to one final battle, winner take all. If she could stop Fate now, then they could hopefully get the location of Presea and end this once and for all.

Tsubasa was on the side, leaning against Aruf. Using his Terran core had been so draining he was having trouble not falling asleep.

Unfortunately for him, Krad and Dark weren't about to let him avoid getting some much needed rest.

However he did stay awake long enough to see Nanoha's first original spell blast Fate into the next week.

* * *

Tsubasa woke to the sound of the alarms going off. Krad and Dark tried to keep him asleep, seeing as how he drained his Terran core pretty good healing Aruf, but he wasn't having any of that.

He could sense another core inside of him, one that he didn't recognize as one of his and he planned to see what it was.

So he reached for the magic he could feel and yanked, hard. Whatever was on the other side of the core wasn't happy, and tried to either infect or yank his core into itself, but the second Krad and Dark noticed it they went into protective mode.

Whatever it was on the other side wasn't capable of getting past Krad or Dark, let alone both.

Suddenly Tsubasa went from tired to absolutely perky.

He was quick to join the group storming the garden.

"Feather Storm!" Tsubasa called out.

He might not be able to fight with his hands just yet, but he could certainly use ranged attacks.

And right now he was exercising his Terran core to add fire and wind to his attacks.

Right now he was doing a credible impersonation of Levantien, Signum's sword. Chrono was studiously trying not to look in Tsubasa's direction lest he become angry and therefor careless.

Tsubasa saw Fate fly past him, so he shouted out the direction he had last seen Nanoha. She nodded and dove deep into the Garden. From the sounds he heard, Fate had found Nanoha and Aruf.

"_Tsubasa, dodge right!"_ shouted Dark.

He did so immediately without hesitation and narrowly avoided getting cut in half.

Shortly after Fate went in, Tsubasa heard the blaring of new alarms.

"The Garden is collapsing!" shouted Chrono.

Tsubasa switched with Shadow to avoid tripping while running to the point.

He skidded to a stop and was taken back to the Arthra with Chrono and Yuuno.

"Now all we can do is wait for Nanoha and Fate to return with Lindy," said Chrono.

* * *

Tsubasa was the only one allowed to see Fate after the mission, while her emotions were still in turmoil. Lindy couldn't get through to her, and Nanoha was still sleeping off using so much magic. She was exhausted.

He poked his head in and Aruf left, probably to get something to eat because she was starving whenever she had to recover.

Fate looked at Tsubasa. It was pretty clear she had no idea what she was going to do with her life now that her mother was gone.

"You know I once heard a rather good quote from this show my brother and I happen to love called _Supernatural_. Family doesn't end with blood. Just because Presea was your mother doesn't mean she was a good one. I should know... the woman who was related to my mother might have been my aunt, but she wasn't my family."

"You once said you were like me. Your aunt?"

"I never told Nanoha, but I remember that house I was living in before her dad nearly ran me over by mistake. It was the first time I had done a long range transport on world, so I was a little wobbly on the feet."

"What was your aunt like?"

"She knew about magic and she hated it. Both her and her husband tried to 'beat' the magic out of me and encouraged their fat son to do the same. I never even knew what my name was until they were forced to enroll me in school...all they ever called me before I left for good was boy or freak. Once the Takamachi adopted me I made a point to forget they even existed."

Fate looked at Tsubasa. It was hard to believe someone so cheerful had gone through that all because his family hated magic. To someone who had been raised to believe magic was something everyone knew about and accepted, it was hard to believe.

"I'd rather be Tsubasa Takamachi over Harry Potter any day of the week," said Tsubasa.

"Do you think it would be possible for me to have that kind of luck?" asked Fate.

"I don't think I know. Lindy's already talking about adopting you once the case is cleared. I think you could do much worse than having Chrono for a brother... and if we play your cards right you could get stationed on Earth until you graduate school," said Tsubasa.

Fate hugged her knees.

Was it possible to still hope for a better life now?

* * *

_Two weeks later..._

Tsubasa was in the local library trying to find some new horror stories to read while he recovered from the removal procedure done by the Arthra's medics.

When he had to tell them how he got the energy to fight despite having healed Aruf the day before and not able to watch Nanoha try to reach Fate, Lindy forced him to sit down while they did an in-depth scan of what Dark and Krad collectively called his Terran core.

What they found had everyone horrified. There was some sort of malevolent parasite on his core, and it was centered around the strange lightning-shaped scar on his head.

It took them four hours before they were able to extract the thing without harming him too much, outside of what he had already absorbed when he forcibly stole power from the foreign core.

It was going to the Research department in Mid Childa because whatever this thing was, it was active. Very active, almost alive. Having a Terran Core to experiment on with would make the scientists rather happy and more inclined to leave Mirror Wing and Shadow alone.

However the removal made Tsubasa weak. Almost lethargic.

So Krad, Dark and Shadow were on strict orders that Tsubasa was not to use any magic until his cores recovered.

Which was why he was hitting the library more often.

As he was leaving the horror section, he saw a girl with a wheelchair trying and failing to reach one of the shelves just above her reach.

"Is this the book you want?"

The girl was cute, in his opinion. She had bright eyes and brown hair. Her bangs were held in place by hair clips.

"Yes, thank you."

"I've seen you around the market before. Which school do you go to?"

"I'm home-schooled because of my condition. None of the schools in the city have wheelchair access," said the girl.

"Tsubasa Takamachi."

"Hayate Yagami."

"So tell me Hayate-chan, do you like cake?" asked Tsubasa.

Seeing her face light up, he knew he made the right call.


End file.
